hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
I'm so excited! As many of you have heard on Facebook or noticed through the LB status updates, I've been working hard with the boys in their stalls each night since the end of daylight savings time stole my ability to drive until spring. Turbo is now 2.5 so I've started dreaming about harnesses and in trying to chose what to order next year I have slipped various styles of blinker bridle on his head for a few moments at a time to see how they look. He's been very accepting of the headstall but it's been clear he's concerned about having his vision restricted so I had every intention of sticking to my plan of bitting him in an open bridle and adding the blinkers a little bit at time...later. Much later. Whenever seemed good!
We've been so focused on learning to ground-tie, set up for halter, stay out of my pockets, keep his butt away from me, lowering his head, beginning to bow, doing forehand and hindquarter pivots, step on a platform, etc., that I wasn't planning on introducing bitting for some time. Why bother? I won't ground-drive him until his whoa is solid, he isn't compulsive about having his rump to me and he understands moving laterally in response to pressure or a whip tap! All those pieces are being put into place currently and he's doing well but I'm still not in any hurry.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving night. I went out to the barn after dinner with a friend's Estate show harness bridle to see what the square blinkers looked like on him. Turbo was fascinated by the harness bag and as I pulled out the bridle he reached up and touched the bit before I could remove it. I thought that was good precedent to set so I clicked him for it. Well, you know how horses get when they discover something gets them a treat! I could see the light go on in his head and he immediately reached out and touched it again. Click/treat. It took almost no time at all before he was opening his mouth and taking the bit all on his own. At that point Kody decided Turbo had had enough fun and dinner was late so he nudged the gate open and poked his head into Turbo's stall to let me know he wanted some attention. After thanking my alpha horse for waiting patiently in the doorway instead of barging in, I separated them again and held the bit up for him as well. Kody, being an experienced driving horse (although one who has always hated bridling no matter how gentle I am with his ears) didn't take more than a moment to figure out I wanted him to pick up the bit. Turbo was watching with great interest through the gate and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. When Kody interrupted Turbo had been at the stud colt stage of grabbing at the bit and trying to toss it up and down, which of course is not what I wanted. I offered him the bit through the gate after Kody'd done it a few times and Turbo started to toss it, bonked his nose on the gate, thought, and then veeeeery carefully drew the bit up into his mouth and held it. Click! After that they had it down. I was passing the bridle back and forth and each horse would pick it up, hold it until I clicked then carefully spit out the bit to get their goodies.
Honestly, by that point I was giggling like a maniac.
It was so fun to see them not only bitting themselves but taking turns with it! The monkey see, monkey do aspect just made it better.
By that point their dinner was over an hour late and they'd done more than enough for one session but neither horse wanted to quit so I went back to Turbo's stall (where he wouldn't be distracted by Kody's presence) and had him take the bit one more time. This time I held the crownpiece up against his face like I was going to put it on and clicked him for holding the bit longer as I did so. He got it immediately so the next time I slipped it over one ear and the following time over both. Turbo was bridled! Of course he was mouthing the bit like a maniac and trying to grab the half-cheek "spoons" and such but for once he was completely unconcerned about the blinkers and despite the distraction of the bit in his mouth he was clearly proud of himself. I left it on for a few minutes and had him follow me once around the stall then called it quits for the night and fed them both.
You've got to understand- I've done a lot of in-depth training with my individual horses over the years but this is the first time I've ever started one completely from scratch. I know how but it's still thrilling to me to be there for the first bitting, the first show, the first ribbon, etc. Turbo has had the bit on twice more so far, including a session Mom videoed last night, and he's doing fine with both blinkers and bit but since my other reasons for not moving forward are still valid I think I'll go back to an open bridle for now and only bit him every few days to let him slowly get used to it while we establish the other basics.
I am really, really happy with my boys though and so glad to be back to active training. Thank you for letting me share!
Leia
We've been so focused on learning to ground-tie, set up for halter, stay out of my pockets, keep his butt away from me, lowering his head, beginning to bow, doing forehand and hindquarter pivots, step on a platform, etc., that I wasn't planning on introducing bitting for some time. Why bother? I won't ground-drive him until his whoa is solid, he isn't compulsive about having his rump to me and he understands moving laterally in response to pressure or a whip tap! All those pieces are being put into place currently and he's doing well but I'm still not in any hurry.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving night. I went out to the barn after dinner with a friend's Estate show harness bridle to see what the square blinkers looked like on him. Turbo was fascinated by the harness bag and as I pulled out the bridle he reached up and touched the bit before I could remove it. I thought that was good precedent to set so I clicked him for it. Well, you know how horses get when they discover something gets them a treat! I could see the light go on in his head and he immediately reached out and touched it again. Click/treat. It took almost no time at all before he was opening his mouth and taking the bit all on his own. At that point Kody decided Turbo had had enough fun and dinner was late so he nudged the gate open and poked his head into Turbo's stall to let me know he wanted some attention. After thanking my alpha horse for waiting patiently in the doorway instead of barging in, I separated them again and held the bit up for him as well. Kody, being an experienced driving horse (although one who has always hated bridling no matter how gentle I am with his ears) didn't take more than a moment to figure out I wanted him to pick up the bit. Turbo was watching with great interest through the gate and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. When Kody interrupted Turbo had been at the stud colt stage of grabbing at the bit and trying to toss it up and down, which of course is not what I wanted. I offered him the bit through the gate after Kody'd done it a few times and Turbo started to toss it, bonked his nose on the gate, thought, and then veeeeery carefully drew the bit up into his mouth and held it. Click! After that they had it down. I was passing the bridle back and forth and each horse would pick it up, hold it until I clicked then carefully spit out the bit to get their goodies.
Honestly, by that point I was giggling like a maniac.
By that point their dinner was over an hour late and they'd done more than enough for one session but neither horse wanted to quit so I went back to Turbo's stall (where he wouldn't be distracted by Kody's presence) and had him take the bit one more time. This time I held the crownpiece up against his face like I was going to put it on and clicked him for holding the bit longer as I did so. He got it immediately so the next time I slipped it over one ear and the following time over both. Turbo was bridled! Of course he was mouthing the bit like a maniac and trying to grab the half-cheek "spoons" and such but for once he was completely unconcerned about the blinkers and despite the distraction of the bit in his mouth he was clearly proud of himself. I left it on for a few minutes and had him follow me once around the stall then called it quits for the night and fed them both.
You've got to understand- I've done a lot of in-depth training with my individual horses over the years but this is the first time I've ever started one completely from scratch. I know how but it's still thrilling to me to be there for the first bitting, the first show, the first ribbon, etc. Turbo has had the bit on twice more so far, including a session Mom videoed last night, and he's doing fine with both blinkers and bit but since my other reasons for not moving forward are still valid I think I'll go back to an open bridle for now and only bit him every few days to let him slowly get used to it while we establish the other basics.
I am really, really happy with my boys though and so glad to be back to active training. Thank you for letting me share!
Leia
